Love Makes A Choice
by beforefirecouldcatchme
Summary: Justin & Selena have been friends for as long as they can remember. But can Justin writing a simple song change all that?
1. Prologue

_Have you ever fallen for someone?_

_Have you ever felt those butterflies in your stomach, your heart racing?_

_Have you ever tried to brush it off, pretending like it was nothing?_

_Have you ever thought about them every night before you fell asleep, wondering if they ever think about you?_

_Have you ever fallen for someone you never thought you would?_

_Have you ever fallen in love with your best friend?_


	2. A Love War Begins

DING DONG. _I wonder who that could be, _Selena thought, shoving the rest of her granola bar into her mouth. She opened the door, and her eyes were blinded by the sun. Shielding her eyes, the first thing she saw was a mane of brown hair.

"Oh, hey Justin."

Justin's heart skipped a beat. He knew that they had been friends ever since he had moved to L.A., but he was starting to think that he didn't want to be just friends.

"You ready to go to school?" he asked, shaking off his thoughts.

Selena sighed. "Let's just get this over with," and grabbed her denim jacket.

Justin opened the car door for her, and she climbed into his Range Rover.

Once they got to school, it was the usual hustle and bustle of the never-ending crowd.

Justin walked Selena to her locker, just as usual, and she dumped her books in her locker. The routine hadn't changed for years and he liked it just the way it was.

Walking over to his locker, he saw the Jonas Brothers huddled around a locker. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nick glancing at Selena. Fire bubbled inside of him, as the green monster of jealousy climbed onto his back.

He knew Nick broke Selena's heart. He knew she loved him, his heart aching at that very thought. He couldn't stand the thought of anybody hurting Selena. He just couldn't.

He wondered if he ever would have a chance.

A chance to tell Selena everything she meant to him. He remembered their every embrace, when he held his whole world in his arms. It had always been like that, their friendship unbreakable.

But then one day, when she planted a goodbye kiss on his cheek, his stomach fluttered. He couldn't make sense of it. He had dated plenty of girls before, had felt something. But he had never fallen for a friend, his head couldn't seem to grasp the concept.

Snapping back to reality, he saw Nick avert his eyes from Selena, as they all headed their separate ways for class, but Justin's gut told him that it was going to be a very interesting day.


	3. The Runaway

**Sorry this took so long! :| Enjoy. **

"Hey look, it's that girl named Selena! That ugly bitch."

Those words echoed around the cafeteria, running around in everyone's ears, then arriving at Selena's.

She paused, looked down, pretending to brush it off. Thinking ahead, she already planned the fake smile she would wear. Proceeding through the lunch line, staring at the orange lunch tray, clinging to it like a lifeline, Selena attempted to drown out all of her thoughts with song lyrics. Humming along to a tune, she became immersed in her own world.

"Excuse me? Are you going to get something?" The lunch lady's voice cut through the thoughts running around in Selena's head.

Selena jerked her head up, startled.

"Oh, um, sure. I'll take that…is that a hamburger?" she asked, staring at what looked like a fried hockey puck.

"That fat whore." The voice whispered in the back of her mind. She couldn't turn around to see who it was; she couldn't bring herself to.

_I just can't take this, not now, _the thought echoing inside Selena's head.

But the insults were still hurling at her, as she started walking towards the door, but stopped short at the sight of black curly hair. Nick. It was Nick Jonas, her ex-boyfriend. Standing next to him was the wonderful Camille Belle, the well-known, stereotypical, popular, whore. She smirked at her, then whispered in Nick's ear. Looking uncomfortably at Selena, Nick gave her an apologetic smile.

Like that would fix anything.

A kiss. On the cheek. That's what she saw. Camille. Kissed. Nick.

Tears blurring her vision, Selena started to leave.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Someone actually cared. Turning around, she saw a swoosh of brown hair. Justin.

She just shook her head, unable to form words.

"Justin, hun, you don't need to be seen with her. That won't help. " a voice echoed from beside her.

That's when she started to run. Run away from everything. Run away from Nick's defenseless expression, running away from the boy she once loved.

She tried not to look back. She really did. But it was as if an invisible force of gravity pulled her head to glance back to the cafeteria.

The first scene she saw was a flash of purple, Justin finally processing everything that went on, staring angrily at Nick, but unable to move his feet.

Then all of a sudden he was chasing her as she subconsciously ran, her feet leading to one haven: the bathroom. Justin, sensing where her feet were taking her, sped up to catch up with her.

"Selena! Sel!" he yelled, almost as if it was a command, already knowing that she wouldn't respond.

_I can't stop. Not now. I can't let him see me cry. Oh gosh, where's Taylor when I need her? What's going on? Don't let Justin see you cry, Selena. Don't break down in front of him._ The thoughts collided into each other, all jumbled up in her head.

_Why is she running away from me?_ The one thought echoed in Bieber's mind.

Finally, his feet flew to hers. Grabbing her arm firmly, he forced her to look him in the eye.

"Sel. You have to tell me what's going on, you're worrying me," he said gently.

Wiping unseen tears away, she tried to pretend like everything was okay. Faking a smile, she mumbled, "nothing. I just…really had to pee."

"Selena. That is the biggest piece of bullshit I've ever heard from you."

She gave him a watery smile, but still tried to hastily change the subject. "Have you seen Taylor?"

Sighing, he replied, "She's coming."

Staring at him in shock, Selena asked, "How does she know?"

"I told her."

"Oh. …Thank you."

Glancing up at her, he muttered, "Don't shut me out now, too."

"What?" she answered, catching the words that she wasn't supposed to hear.

Justin shrugged, staring at the ground. "You just seem to shut down when you get hurt. Shut everybody else out. And…"

"What?" Selena asked, wondering how he saw right through her act.

"Um, nothing." _And I don't want to be one of those people._

Glancing at him, Selena plastered a smile on her face. "I won't. …I'm going to go to the bathroom now."

"Sel. _What's wrong?"_

"Nothing. Justin. Nothing," she said, hoping her act would work.

It didn't. Justin, sighing, mumbled again, "You _are_ pushing me away," but Selena was already walking away.

Hanging on by a thread, Selena ran into the bathroom, Justin's words reverberating in her head. Unknowingly, he had pointed out a flaw of hers, one of the things she was most insecure about; pushing people away. His words seemed to haunt her, swirling around in her head.

Justin's feet remained firmly planted to the ground. Emotion after emotion rolled over him. Anger. Hurt. Jealousy.

"Yo, Justin. You coming?" Ryan's voice roused him from his thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, dude, just give me a sec', kay?"

Walking to spit out his gum, he spotted blonde corkscrew curls coming his way.

"Taylor!" he yelled from across the hallway, his voice bouncing off the lockers.

"Yeah?" she screamed back, breathless. Coming to a short stop in front of him, she asked, "I got your text. What's wrong?"

"It's Se-Selena." He struggled to keep his voice from cracking.

She gave him a quick hug, and he clung onto her.

Murmuring, he said, "I think she saw Camille kiss Nick." He could feel Taylor take a quick intake of breath. "It was just a peck though. But…people started making fun of her again."

"Oh no," Taylor exhaled. "Not again."

"I think it got to her this time. Can you do me a favor and check on her?"

"Already ahead of you. Do me a favor?"

"Make her smile."

Justin hadn't thought of that, that he could actually have the power to make Selena smile. But his mind flashed back to all the summers they spent together, the lemonade stand, the ice-cream explosions…

Her laugh tinkled in his ear. There was nothing quite like her laugh, It was joyful and adorable. When she laughed, you couldn't help but laugh along with her.

All of a sudden, he heard a scream from the bathroom. Glancing around, he rushed into the girls bathroom, as no one was around.

He stopped at the sight that he saw. Taylor was staring at Selena, and Selena was holding a razor to her wrists, tears streaming down her face.

**If I get 5+ reviews, I'll continue. But thanks to Caitlin (CaitlinIsANerd) for putting up with me and reading all my work.**

**xLoveNaturally **


	4. Take Me Away

**I'm sorry this was so late, and I'm sorry this is so short, I'll make the next one longer if I decide to continue. I don't know if I will, unless enough people read this. Thanks to Caitlin (/CaitlinIsANerd) for reading this again. **

**Hope you enjoy. :) x **

**/xlovenaturally**

"Selena, please," Taylor whimpered. "Please don't do this to yourself."

Justin just stood there, absorbing the scene. The razor had just grazed one of Selena's wrists, but enough for the blood to seep through her sweater.

"No one was supposed to know," she whispered quietly, almost as if to herself.

Justin fumbled for the words to make this right. "…Selenalenalena," Justin managed the words out of his mouth. Forcing a smile, he tried to coax her to handing him the razor. "Remember that summer? When we were little?" he asked, hoping to distract her.

Selena nodded, her eyes glued to him, as if it was the only thing holding her to the earth. Justin motioned to Taylor to get the razor. He suddenly stumbled over his words, not sure of what was coming out next.

The spell broke, and Selena looked at Taylor. Abandoning all pretense, Taylor gently grabbed the razor from Selena's hand, and pulled her into a hug.

"You didn't have to do this to yourself," Taylor said soothingly.

"No one was supposed to know," Selena whispered, tears pouring down her face. "It's not like this every time. I just..it's just…the only way to deal with things right now."

Justin paused, hoping he'd say the right thing. "You know we're here for you, Sel."

Taylor gave him a thumbs up from behind Selena's back, but Justin could tell from her expression that she was just as worried as he was.

The summers they had spent together, all the laughs, the smiles, the tears, flashed through his mind.

_Remember when the power went out? The school, everywhere there was a blackout. We both just sat outside, wondering what to do. We went to each house, and made sure our neighbors were okay. Remember their faces, Sel? Remember Mrs. Garble, that old lady, who smiled when you started a conversation with her, asked her how her day was? She was happy that somebody cared._

_And remember that seven-year old you babysat? His name was Hunter. I couldn't stop concentrating on your face. You just seemed to never stop smiling. I don't know how you did it. Your laugh tinkled through the air, and that's a sound I'll never forget._

Selena stared transfixedly at him, just as Justin realized he had said all of this out loud. Shuffling his feet, he looked down, embarrassed of the words that he had just unconsciously spilled out of his mouth.

After a minutes pause, Selena spoke. "Do you know what it's like?" she whispered, partially to Taylor, partially to Justin. "To feel numb from everything? To scream at the world and they don't hear a thing? When no one sees the tears pouring down your face?"

Taylor, glancing at Justin, nodded, trying to force some words out.

"But…you didn't have to that, Sel," Justin covered for Taylor. Without showing the hesitation he felt inside, he strode over to Selena and wrapped her in his arms.

_She's so tiny and frail,_ he thought. _Was she always like this?_

He mouthed this to Taylor, who shook her head. The memories of all their smiles flashed through his head. _How long had this been going on?_

It took him a second to realize he was shaking. He looked down, and realized Selena's body was racked with sobs.

He pulled her closer, wrapping her tighter. He glanced down, and in surprise, he noticed something written on her arm. Looking closer, he read the words she had shakily written that morning to cover her previous scars.

_Just take me away._


End file.
